Pill can deliver 'personalised treatment' for lung cancer

02/12/2012

A new personalised treatment has been released which can help fight lung cancer in young people.

Crizotinib, or Xalkori, has been given early license by regulators after promising trial findings. A study of 347 patients revealed that it more than doubled the time taken for treated tumours to start growing again or stop shrinking.

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Furthermore, 'Progression-free survival' - where the disease does not get worse - rose from a mid-point of three months for patients on chemotherapy to 7.7 months. Although long-term survival wasn’t studied, the researchers believe the drug could extend lives.

Dr Ekaterini Boleti, a member of the trial team from the Royal Free Hospital, London, said: "It's not a miracle drug, but it's a huge leap forward.

"We see this as the beginning of a new era of cancer treatment... (that is) much more targeted and personalised."

Patients who can benefit from the drug form a sub-group among those with non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for 80 to 85 per cent of cases of the disease. The drug, made by Pfizer, has yet to be assessed by NICE.

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